Cochrane thanks Ramsey after landing England U15 job

JUSTIN COCHRANE thanked Chris Ramsey for inspiring him to become a coach after landing the England Under-15 job.

The 36-year-old replaces Kevin Betsy, who has moved up to coach the England Under-16s. Cochrane joins from Spurs, where he worked for nine years and was mentored by Ramsey, the then Head of Development who is now Technical Director of QPR.

“I still remember it now, my first day at Tottenham Hotspur and working with Chris Ramsey in the Academy,” Cochrane told the FA website. “That was the key moment for me, when I knew that coaching was the path I wanted to go down.

“Going back to that first day with Chris, he made it clear that it’s about developing an individual who can play within a team. What happens in a match in terms of results wasn’t necessarily the key or what we were looking for.

“He wanted Tottenham to produce the best young players who could play in a certain style and felt if we played with that style and developed young players, the result would be winning games. We always played an attacking game and tried to out-score the opponents, so as a coach there was no pressure.”

Cochrane, who was Assistant Head of Player and Coach Development at Spurs, said he was "very excited" to become England U15 coach.

"I've learnt so much during my years working with the young players at Spurs," he added. “It’s a new challenge and one that I’m ready for. Over the last nine years, I’ve been fortunate to work with some very talented players and now I’m looking forward to coaching the best from across the country and learning more from the staff.”

Betsy had been U15 coach since April 2016 and will now move up to the U16s. Along with U18 in-possession coach Lee Skyrme, Cochrane and Betsy are the only England team coaches from a BAME background.

Last month, the FA announced its intention to have at least one BAME coach working with each of the 28 England representative teams (which include senior, youth and disability teams for both men and women).

Warren Hackett works as a specialist coach with the U15s during camps - and so does Iffy Onuora with the U21s.

Last month England manager Gareth Southgate said: “I know there is talk of the Rooney Rule, but for the last couple of years we have always interviewed a black candidate for every coaching role.

“As part of a thorough process, we have appointed Kevin Betsy, Lee Skyrme and just recently Justin Cochrane, who I think are three really excellent young coaches.

“The more important thing for me is that we are giving opportunity based on ability.”